Carbon Nanotube Field Emitters Synthesized on Metal Alloy Substrate by PECVD for Customized Compact Field Emission Devices to Be Used in X-Ray Source Applications.

In this study, a simple, efficient, and economical process is reported for the direct synthesis of carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters on metal alloy. Given that CNT field emitters can be customized with ease for compact and cold field emission devices, they are promising replacements for thermionic emitters in widely accessible X-ray source electron guns. High performance CNT emitter samples were prepared in optimized plasma conditions through the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process and subsequently characterized by using a scanning electron microscope, tunneling electron microscope, and Raman spectroscopy. For the cathode current, field emission (FE) characteristics with respective turn on (1 µA/cm²) and threshold (1 mA/cm²) field of 2.84 and 4.05 V/µm were obtained. For a field of 5.24 V/µm, maximum current density of 7 mA/cm² was achieved and a field enhancement factor ß of 2838 was calculated. In addition, the CNT emitters sustained a current density of 6.7 mA/cm² for 420 min under a field of 5.2 V/µm, confirming good operational stability. Finally, an X-ray generated image of an integrated circuit was taken using the compact field emission device developed herein.

Direct Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube Field Emitters on Metal Substrate for Open-Type X-ray Source in Medical Imaging.

We report the design, fabrication and characterization of a carbon nanotube enabled open-type X-ray system for medical imaging. We directly grew the carbon nanotubes used as electron emitter for electron gun on a non-polished raw metallic rectangular-rounded substrate with an area of 0.1377 cm² through a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. The stable field emission properties with triode electrodes after electrical aging treatment showed an anode emission current of 0.63 mA at a gate field of 7.51 V/µm. The 4.5-inch cubic shape open type X-ray system was developed consisting of an X-ray aperture, a vacuum part, an anode high voltage part, and a field emission electron gun including three electrodes with focusing, gate and cathode electrodes. Using this system, we obtained high-resolution X-ray images accelerated at 42-70 kV voltage by digital switching control between emitter and ground electrode.

Hydrophobic properties of polytetrafluoroethylene thin films fabricated at various catalyzer temperatures through catalytic chemical vapor deposition using a tungsten catalyzer.

Using the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) method, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) thin films were fabricated on Si(100) substrates at various catalyzer temperatures, using a tungsten catalyzer, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) were used to confirm the fabrication of the films. An atomic-force microscope (AFM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) were employed to study the correlation between the wettability and surface morphology of the samples. It was found that the wettability of the PTFE thin films fabricated via Cat-CVD is strongly correlated with the sizes of the film surfaces' nanoprotrusions, and that superhydrophobic PTFE thin-film surfaces can be easily achieved by controlling the sizes of the nanoprotrusions through the catalyzer temperature. The comparison of the wettability values and surface morphologies of the films confirmed that nanoscale surface roughness enhances the hydrophobic properties of PTFE thin films. Further, the detailed analysis of the films' surface morphologies from their AFM images with the use of the Wenzel and Cassie models confirmed that the nanoscale surface roughness enhanced the hydrophobic property of the PTFE films. Further, the variations of the wettability of the PTFE thin films prepared via Cat-CVD are well explained by the Cassie model. It seems that the increase in the trapping air and the reduction of the liquid-solid contact area are responsible for the superhydrophobicity of the PTFE thin films prepared via Cat-CVD.

Study of nanoscale photopolymerized fullerene clusters in solution droplets using an ultrasonic nebulizer unit.

In a designed and developed ultrasonic nebulizer system for obtaining macroscopic-quantity photopolymerized fullerene (C60) clusters, a C60 solution was vaporized to several micro-sized droplets in vacuum, resulting in the formation of C60 aggregates by evaporating the solvent (toluene). The system was invented to produce nanoscale photopolymerized carbon clusters through the irradiation of ultraviolet (UV) light on the C60 aggregates in vacuum. The products, photopolymerized C60 clusters obtained from the system using UV-visible (UV-Vis) absorption and high-performance (or high-pressure) liquid chromatography (HPLC) spectra, were characterized. Compared with the non-irradiating C60 solution, the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of the irradiated C60 solution was drastically decreased, especially at lambda = 335 nm and in the visible region from lambda = 450-650 nm. As such, the UV-Vis absorption spectra provide information about the polymerization of C60 molecules. These photopolymerized C60 clusters can be detected as having a heavy molecular mass order through the HPLC system, and the C60 and photopolymerized C60 cluster can be extracted from the trapped solution on the molecular mass. Although there is a possibility that the products include various forms of C60 clusters, the results suggest that the products obtained from the system using a vaporizer establish a new method of obtaining macroscopic-quantity C60 clusters.